


A Chance Encounter

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Order of the Phoenix - Freeform, Wizarding Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-06
Updated: 2009-08-06
Packaged: 2018-10-27 18:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10814655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Neville Longbottom hates going on his weekly visits to St. Mungo's until one day when he has a chance encounter with an extraordinary young girl.





	A Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

 

“Now you wait here like a good boy, Neville, while I go talk to the healers,” the matronly woman instructed as she steered the young boy into one of the waiting rooms at St. Mungo’s.

“Yes, Gran,” Neville answered, dutifully stepping into the small room lined from end to end with chairs. He watched as the woman walk down the corridor and turned the corner, before entering the room fully.  

There was a couple tending to their crying toddler near the front, their frazzled expressions a testament to the hard time they were having soothing the child. A medi-witch poked her head in and addressed them and they gratefully followed her out of the room, screaming baby in tow.

Neville hated the wizarding hospital. He’d been coming to visit for as long as he could remember, and not once could he say that he looked forward to the sterile white color of the walls or the slightly pungent smell of potions that tinted the air. And well, most importantly, the people that he came to visit never responded to him or recognized him in any way. But he went, time and time again, because his gran expected him to go and he didn’t have the heart, or courage, to tell her no.

He was about to take a seat, when he noticed a figure sitting at the far end of the room, half obscured by the large fronds of a fern placed in the corner. It was a girl, Neville realized, as he tentatively made his way over. She was sitting with her arms crossed tightly around her chest, her long, straggly blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. “Hullo,” he called out, gently. When she didn’t respond, he carefully pushed the fern aside. “Er…hullo?”

The girl looked up, her slightly protuberant silvery-grey eyes wide with surprise. “Oh,” she said softly. “I didn’t see you standing there.”

“Oh…erm…s-sorry” Neville stuttered, a bit nervously, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. He wasn’t used to talking to girls; well anyone his age, really. He and his gran lived alone, far away in the countryside. “Sorry to bother you.” He turned away and starting to leave.

“No, wait,” the girl called out, sliding off her chair. “Please don’t go.”

Neville froze as the girl caught a hold of his arm. He swallowed hard and turned to face her. “Um…okay.” He shuffled over to the nearest set of chairs and sat down, a bit unnerved by the fact that the girl still had a fistful of his jumper sleeve, even as she sat next to him.  

“I’m…er…N-Neville.”

The girl nodded slightly.

“And…you are?” Neville prodded.

“Oh…Luna,” she answered wistfully.

“Nice to meet you, Luna,” Neville said politely, glancing at his jumper and the clenched hand holding it.

Luna followed his gaze and quickly snatched her hand away. “Terribly sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.” He looked around the room. “So are you here to visit someone?”

Luna nodded slowly, her hands fidgeting in her lap. “Mum…she had an accident…Father is with the healers now.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

Luna shrugged, her lower lip trembling slightly. “I don’t know. I saw…” She paused, her eyes filling with unshed tears. “She heard a noise out back in the garden…t-thought it might be a Knarl…father says they live in the forest surrounding our house… and told me to stay inside. She didn’t want me to s-scare it away.” A tear spilled over and rolled down her cheek and she hastily swiped at it with the back of her hand. “B-But I f-followed her anyway. I was the one that l-left food outside in the f-first place to try t-to capture it. Father is making a catalogue of exotic animals that he’s come in contact with. I just wanted to h-help.” Luna let out a shuddering breath as Neville hesitantly covered her hand with his own. “As soon as I made it to the d-door, there was a flash of light and Mum fell to the g-ground. She l-likes experimenting with new spells, she’s rather good with magic, and I t-think she found the Knarl and tried to c-capture it. But s-something went wrong and the spell hurt her. She wasn’t moving when father picked her up and carried her inside to floo here.”

“I’m sorry,” Neville said sincerely. “Both my parents are in the ward upstairs…will be for a long time I reckon. Bad wizards hurt them.”

“That’s terrible,” Luna replied, looking up at him. “Did the Aurors catch them?”

Neville nodded. “Yes. They’re in Azkaban. They were loyal followers of You-Know-Who . I know the Minister says that he’s gone, but I don’t believe it. I plan on finding him, no matter where he’s hiding, to make him pay for what they did.”

“Goodness,” Luna said, surprised. “But you’re only a child!”

“I’m already ten,” Neville told her. “Gran says that I’ll be going to Hogwarts next year. They’ll teach me enough magic to defend myself, and when I’m ready, I’ll find a way to make things right.”

“I won’t be able to go there for two more years,” Luna said. “But when I do…if you need some help…I wouldn’t mind. Father says I have an exceptional gift for magic…when I was three, I cracked all of Mum’s dishes when a snidget mistook my hair for straw and attempted to nest on my head.”

“I never really showed any signs of having magic when I was younger,” Neville said. “My relatives thought I was a squib until Gran contacted the headmaster at Hogwarts to make sure I would be receiving an invitation. Wow, I can’t believe you’ve seen a snidget.” Neville leaned forward in his chair excitedly. “I saw a picture of one in a book once, but Gran says that they don’t exist.”

“Of course they do,” Luna insisted. “Erumpents and nifflers and graphorns all exists, even though they’re rare and not many people have seen them. Father says so. Even now he’s planning a trip to Sweden in search of crumple-horned snorkacks.”

“Never heard of them.”

“They’re fantastic,” Luna replied, her expression brightening considerably. “Father came a across an entire herd of them years ago, before I was born. But when he reached for his camera, they all vanished.” She shrugged. “He’s been searching for them ever since.”

“That’s amazing,” Neville said. “We don’t have much besides garden gnomes and some doxies where Gran and I live.

“That’s a shame,” Luna replied. “There’s nothing like the rush one gets from seeing a blibbering humdinger basking in the sun.”

“A what?” Neville asked, intrigued. “You’ve seen these creatures?”

Luna shook her head. “Well, no. But Father has.”

“You and your family must have some wonderful adventures together,” Neville said, his voice slipping a bit. “Gran’s getting on in years and there aren’t any other children where we live, so there isn’t much for me to do other than tend her garden.”

Luna reached over and patted his knee. “Oh, there are plenty of creatures that burrow underground around gardens, too. Jarvies are found all over England and are helpful because they protect gardens and chase gnomes away. They love to have a good conversation and will often pop up out of their burrows to discuss the weather or the status of your growing vegetables. Quite helpful, really.” She paused, her dreamy expression focused on the wall for a long moment. “And mooncalves are also very helpful to gardening when they come out of hiding every full moon. Have you heard of them?”

“Can’t say that I have?”

“Well, they’re very shy creatures that only come above ground in isolated areas,” she told him.

“I live in an isolated area,” Neville informed her, excitedly.

She nodded. “That’s perfect. I bet they dance nearby all the time, but you’ve never taken a moment to look for them. After they dance…It’s fascinating, by the way…they slink back underground until the next full moon. But if you go and collect their dung and spread it over your garden before the sun rises the following morning, the plants will grow very strong. Magical herbs as well.”

“Wait until I tell Gran,” Neville said, grinning.

Luna shook her head sadly. “She probably won’t believe you. Most people find creatures like that hard to believe. Father says that they don’t eat enough dirigible plums to help them accept the extraordinary. It’s a shame, really.”

“Well I believe you,” Neville said, firmly.

“Thank you,” Luna replied. “That means a lot. None of the other kids I live near like to play with me. They make fun of my family and call us names. Well, all accept this one family that lives on the other side of the forest. They’re all very nice…there are seven or eight children in that family and all of them have red hair.”

“The Weasleys,” Neville chimed in. “My parents were friends with them a long time ago…Gran still keeps in touch. I think the youngest two children are our age.”

“I don’t see them often,” Luna continued, “mainly walking about in the muggle village at Otterly St. Catchpole. But they’re never mean when we do see them, so I guess they’re all right. Father doesn’t like me to wander off our property because he’s put up charms around it to protect us from dragons and manticores.”

“I’ve never thought about things like that,” Neville said, suddenly nervous. “Gran has wards to prevent people from apparating, but I don’t think she has anything to protect us from dragons or manticores.”

“Don’t worry,” Luna replied. “Father says that an attack like that is very rare…he just doesn’t like to take chances.”

“Oh, okay,” Neville mumbled, only slightly pacified. “Do you think your father can teach Gran the charm, just in case?”

“I’m sure he’d love to,” Luna said, smiling knowingly.

Just then a man in lurid green robes walked into the room, his wiry grey hair flying in all directions. He knelt down next to Luna and pulled her into a hug. “Luna, dear, I need you to come with me.”

“Is Mum okay?” She asked, fearfully, when he released her.

The wizard swallowed hard and slowly shook his head. “I’m afraid not, love.”

Luna’s face crumpled and her father quickly gathered her up in his arms once again.  

“Shh..there, there…” he soothed her. “It’ll be all right, my little Luna-bug.”

“My fault,” she sobbed, clinging to him desperately.

“No, no,” he whispered, his own voice breaking. “Nobody’s fault. Just a spell gone wrong. That’s all it was…an accident. A terrible, terrible accident. It was a wonderful plan, love, to try to capture a Knarl for me to catalogue.”

“C-Can I s-see her?”

“If you want,” her father replied, leaning back to wipe her tears away with the sleeve of his robe.

She nodded quickly, before glancing over at Neville, who had left his seat at some point and was standing a respectful distance away. “Father, this is Neville.”

Her father tuned and addressed the boy. “Nice to meet you Neville.”

“I’m sorry about your wife,” Neville said softly.

“Thank you.”

Luna sniffed and slowly walked over to him. “I guess I should go now.”

Neville shrugged. “I’m really sorry about your mum, Luna.”

She nodded sadly, tears threatening to fall once more. “I know your parents are still alive, but…does it ever get easier?”

It took him a moment to understand what she meant before he nodded. “I promise.” He felt bad for lying to her like that. Although he didn’t have any memories of time together with his parents before they were cursed, Neville always longed to have his mother and father. He loved his gran dearly, but often wondered what it would be like to have his parents raise him as well. He couldn’t imagine losing someone so important to his everyday life. It would be like losing his gran and Neville couldn’t even stand to think of something as horrible as that happening.

Neville was quite surprised when Luna pulled him into a hug and kissed his cheek when she pulled away.  

“Thank you,” she said.

“For what?” Neville asked, stunned.

“For believing,” she said simply, before taking her father’s hand and following him out of the room. Neville stood there a long moment. Then his eyes widened and he ran to the doorway, looking out into the corridor. But they were gone.

“She didn’t tell me her last name,” he muttered out loud.

“Who didn’t, dear?”

Neville turned to find his gran standing behind him. He shrugged. “A friend I just made.”

“That’s lovely,” his gran said, somewhat distractedly.

“Do you know any wizards who have a daughter named, Luna?” he asked, hopefully.

His gran thought for a long moment before shaking her head. “No, can’t say that I do.”

“Oh,” he responded, crestfallen.

“Are you ready to visit now?” his gran asked, taking his hand.  

Neville looked around the hospital wing, one last time, hoping to catch a glimpse of Luna’s straggly blonde hair. Sighing, he nodded. “Sure, Gran.”

It wouldn’t be so bad, Neville realized. Luna would be attending Hogwarts the year after he started there. He would get to see her again. Unless…

“Gran, does Hogwarts have charms to protect it from dragons and manticores?”

 


End file.
